We had promised to follow that up with a second part comparing the operating systems and the built-in applications for the following month, but alas, we left it on the back burner and it fell between the cracks. And because of all the wonderful email you've sent to our editor requesting a follow-up (actually, David Gerwitz called me up and threatened to send the goon squad over if I didn't write one) we're BACK, six months later.

There's really nothing specific about the Nino's software that's different from the rest of Windows CE. As a result, this article will instead talk about Windows CE and the Palm OS and examine how they compare.

It's all about the kernel
We all know what an Operating System is, right? After all, we can all thank the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft for making the abbreviation "OS" a household word.

As we all know, the OS is the master control program or foundation software of a computer that schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a common end-user interface for applications. At the very core of every OS is the kernel, which defines how the OS behaves, allocates storage, schedules tasks, runs system processes, and interfaces with very low-level things like device drivers. On top of the kernel, you have higher-level constructs like file systems, shells, and user interfaces, the stuff most of us are used to.

The Palm OS kernel
PalmOS and Windows CE machines are designed from two completely different approaches, and the kernels of the two operating systems reflect this. Perhaps the main outstanding difference is that the Palm OS (based on the AMX kernel from embedded systems vendor KADAK) supports and is optimized for a very specific hardware reference platform designed entirely by Palm Computing. Because of this, there is little deviation between the Palm OS platform vendors as far as hardware differences go. Symbol, IBM, and Qualcomm have all taken the core hardware and added things on top of the basic Palm devices to it, but they can't change things like the CPU, screen and controller chips -- such a change would require a major reworking of the OS.